Never
by AnotherGirlWithAStory
Summary: James felt his heart swell at the sight of the woman in front of him. In that moment, he couldn't come up with another moment when he had felt that same sensation rampaging the insides of his body. "Never?" Lily shook her head and for a moment looked completely sober as she gathered all the love in that one smile that only James could bring out of her. "Never."


**Title** : Never

 **Pairing** : Lily x James

 **Characters** : James Potter and Lily Evans.

 **Prompts** : Assignment Lithomancy, #Task (Love Stone) Rosa Quarts: Write about a strong, romantic and unconditional love. Minimum 400 words, maximum 5, 000. Write about a character who would do anything for their partner or crush.

 **AN** : Written for the _Jurassic Fever [Challenge]_ held by whitetiger91 at The Golden Snitch Forum.

Pun intended. Also, I'm aware of the fact that it should be… that's what she said… but I used a that's what he said instead.

 **Warning** : Minors drinking alcohol.

 **Word Count** : 1, 594

* * *

They were not supposed to be out of the castle. But James had seen the look of absolute defeat on his girlfriend's face and felt an immediate thug in his heart and a desire to make things better in any way he could. When he suggested that they go on a date the frown on her face was replaced by an immediate smile. He didn't even have to bat his eyelashes or use what Sirius referred to as his super power. Apparently, a date was exactly what Lily needed even if leaving the castle in the middle of the night came with the risk of getting detention. Getting detention had never been a fear of James' and apparently in that moment Lily didn't seem to mind the idea of getting her perfect record tarnished.

Rosmerta noticed the moment they stepped foot inside the bar but only shook her head. Lily relaxed as soon as they sat down next in a hidden booth on opposite sides of a table. The smell of sweat, smoke and alcohol reached their nostrils and as James looked around he noticed that no one was paying any attention to them.

"I've never broken the rules before." Lily commented easily just before she took a swing of the beer that James had put in front of her.

The raven-haired boy couldn't do anything but laugh at the comment and he winked at her. "Well babe, you're doing an excellent job considering it's your first time."

"That's what he said."

James laughed, almost spilling his own beer, and shook his head. "You're hilarious."

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "I know."

They both needed to get away. That became even clearer as the evening turned into night. The amount of glasses increased, some tall ones and some tiny ones, and the more they drank the looser they became. One moment they talked about the future and aired fears that they didn't dare talk about otherwise. The next moment they talked about something funny they had seen or done and laughed until tears ran down their cheeks. The hours passed by in a blur of emotions. Most of the time happiness.

It was hard to tell if they left the bar in the middle of the night or early morning. Lily walked a few meters in front of James. She had taken of her shoes and held them in her hands. She swayed back and forth as she walked and would occasionally hum one of the songs that had played in the bar. James didn't have the heart to tell her that she was being loud and that she was definitely going to get them in trouble. He quite liked seeing her like that. For once she, and he, were just teenagers who had done something they weren't supposed to. There was no war going on and no fear in the back of their minds because they, already at that age, were painfully aware of how precious life was. They were Lily and James. They were teenagers, they were on a date and in that moment, they were in love.

The castle was a sight for sore eyes underneath the dark sky with the huge moon and all the glistening stars. But James attention was focused on the smiling redhead. She looked more content than she had in months. Her hair hung loosely and some parts of it looked crazier than others. Her cheeks were a shade redder than normal and not because of the cold. Her green eyes were closed as she stood completely still and enjoyed the silence. Every now and again she bit her lower lip and her smile would grow even more as if she couldn't contain the happiness within her body. The little light that that cloud free sky provided was the only reason that James could see her as clearly as he could. Light blue jeans, a tank top and a lose cardigan in a see-through fabric.

"I'm so glad we did this." Lily said with a slight slur in her voice and interrupted his thoughts. She ran her hands through her hair and had stopped swaying back and forth in favour of standing still. She pointed at him with one finger and her smile grew as she took a few stumbling words towards him. "You are a brilliant man James Potter."

Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes to kiss his lips. She managed to push his glasses to the side in the process but only giggled as she released his grip around him only to fix them again. Then she looked directly into his hazel eyes and smiled even bigger than before. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." He responded easily.

Lily leaned closer to him and whispered. "Am I being really loud? I really don't want to get you in any trouble. Especially not when you just randomly took me on a date that could give you weeks' worth of detention. Imagines being the target of McGonagall's wrath for that long?"

"Technically both you and I would get detention…"

"Yeah, you're right." She scrunched her face together and shook her head. "I don't like the idea of going through that and I especially don't like the idea of you going through that. I like you too much for that."

She moved so close to James that he could smell the hint of alcohol in her breath and for a moment he saw every detail of her emerald green eyes. Her tank top had slip up a little and James could feel her skin underneath his fingertips.

"It would definitely be worth it. You look a lot more relaxed than you did yesterday."

Lily nodded, there was a newfound clarity in her eyes, and she withdrew her arms from James' neck. "It's been a stressful few months."

She put her hands in her pockets and looked down at the ground as she dived head first into the thoughts that swam inside of her head. A pair of shoes appeared within sight and when James put his hands on her waist Lily looked up. Her breath hitched in her throat as she looked at him. There was no denying that James was beautiful. Hazel-coloured eyes that glimmered, a genuinely happy smile that showed his teeth, that messy hair which could never stay flat. It used to annoy her to no end when she saw him running his hands through it but nowadays if he didn't mess his hair up by himself she would.

"You're a beautiful man, James Fleamont Potter." She spoke without thinking and watched as his cheeks turned a shade pinker. An embarrassed laughter escaped his parted lips and Lily could almost see a joke forming inside of his head.

"You're just saying that because you're drunk." James commented. Lily shook her head and mouthed watch this before putting her fingertip on her nose and winked at him. James rolled his eyes. "Oh, my bad. You're obviously very sober right now. It's not like your swaying back and forth. Hey babe, are you seeing two of me right now or more?"

Lily did the most straightforward thing she could come up with at the moment, not the most mature, and stuck out her tongue. James let out a deep laughter that echoed through the empty yard as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That's very immature. You're obviously not completely sober."

"I never said that I was completely sober." Lily said with a shrug. "I'm just opposed to the statement you made about me being drunk. I'm not drunk. I may be a bit tipsy but never drunk. Absolutely not."

James let out a low laughter as he looked at her with adoration in his eyes. "My bad. If you can say stuff like that without pronouncing any of the words wrong you must not be drunk."

"Exactly." Lily paused for a moment. "And even if I was drunk of my ass, which I'm not, I would still be able to see that you are beautiful. And I don't care if you get embarrassed when I tell you that because you, my love, deserves hearing how amazing I think you are. I sometimes forget to tell you that."

James laughed again, this time sounding more unsure of himself and he scratched the back of his neck. "You don't have to tell me…"

Lily rolled her eyes and removed the distance between the two. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her cheek onto his chest so that she could look straight into his hazel eyes. "Look at me and tell me that you don't get happy when I tell you stuff like that?"

James smiled down at her and caressed her skin with his free hand while the other rested over her shoulder. When he still hadn't responded after a few minutes Lily's smile grew. "See, you like being told that you're amazing, it makes you happy. And I like, not scratch that, I love seeing you happy and I never want to see you unhappy."

James felt his heart swell at the sight of the woman in front of him. In that moment, he couldn't come up with another moment when he had felt that same sensation rampaging the insides of his body. "Never?"

Lily shook her head and for a moment looked completely sober as she gathered all the love in that one smile that only James could bring out of her. "Never."

 **The end**


End file.
